Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.

Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.